"It''s about pride, not just necessity," Annika said, shooting a look at Sadie. "Ms. James, is Mr. Clemens trying to make you beg?"


    "He''s a real piece of work," Sadie muttered, teeth clenched. Her options sucked: either swallow her pride and marry Joe, letting the Louis family have something over her forever and losing her kids, or go back to Micah. But why was Micah doing this? He thought she was with Joe and hated her for it, yet he still had Olivia. Was this all just revenge?


    "The phone''s ringing again," Annika gently nudged Sadie.


    Sadie snapped out of it and nced at her phone. She''d ignored the call earlier, and it went to voicemail, but Amanda was calling again. With a sigh, Sadie answered, "Hello!"


    "Sadie, where are you?" Amanda''s voice was calm, but you could tell she was pissed and ready to blow.


    "What''s up?" Sadie asked, trying to stay cool.


    "Are you nuts? Joe''s been beaten and is out cold, and you''re asking if I need something?" Amanda snapped, furious. "Sadie, the only reason I''m still talking to you is because of Tristan. You better get to my ce right now and exin everything!"


    "You should already know the basics," Sadie said coolly. "I have something to handle right now. I''lle over once I''m done."


    "Sadie!" Amanda lost it, yelling, "You''re about to marry Joe, and now you''re tangled up with Micah, even going to a hotel with him. Do you have any shame?"


    Sadie frowned but stayed silent.


    "And at the crucial moment, not only did you not protect Joe, but you also teamed up with Micah to beat him up. You vicious woman, I won''t let you get away with this." Amanda kept ranting, "I''m giving you one hour to get to my house and exin everything or face the consequences!"


    With that, she hung up.


    Sadie held her phone, frowning as she stared out the window, feeling weighed down.


    What started as a simple issue had turned into a mess, and now it was all on her to fix.


    Then a thought hit her: Micah was super meticulous. Why would he let rence spill his location to Joe unless it was on purpose? Could it be... a setup?


    Micah deliberately let rence reveal his whereabouts to Joe, luring Sadie to find him and creating chaos that forced her to call off the wedding.


    "By the way, when Jessica and I went to the vi area today, it was dead quiet. The kids weren''t there, and there were no kids'' stuff in the house. It felt off." Arya suddenly remembered and told Sadie, "Ms. James, I think the kids aren''t in the vi area at all."


    "Could it be..." Annika suddenly realized something and asked in shock, "Is this all Mr. Clemens'' trap?"


    "Totally possible!" Arya said, enlightened. "It''s like they set us up. Rodolfo wasn''t even surprised to see me. Looking back, it seems like this was all nned."


    "Micah!" Sadie gritted her teeth in anger, "You''re really something!"


    "We really underestimated Mr. Clemens," Annika said, feeling a chill. "It seems he never used any real tactics against us before. If we really go up against him, we''re no match for him."